1781.c.9(15)

Genre: Architectural Photography

View looking along the bank of the Jumna (Yamuna), showing a series of octagonal domed towers, topped with cupolas, along the bank, with the buildings of the Ram Bagh (or Bagh-i Nur Afshan) in the foreground: 'These five plates [12-16] comprise views taken along the left bank of the Jumna, and exhibit the river faces of the royal and other gardens in the order in which they occur from South, Northwards, i.e. up the stream. With the exception of the Ram Bagh (Plate XV), they are now for the most part deserted and in ruins, or are partially let out to native gardeners for cultivation. The gardens are generally of great extent, laid out with paved walks, and extensively furnished with fountains. They were enclosed on the three land sides with massive walls, and were open to the river, on which side magnificent pavilions were constructed, with suites of apartments in the basement leading on to extensive terraces jutting out into the stream. The angles of each garden were marked by towers; those on the river face being several stories high, massive and elegant in design, surmounted with graceful cupolas, and faced or constructed entirely with red sandstone. The garden of the Princess Juhanara was probably the most complete and tasty, as well as the most costly of those laid out on this bank of the river, but it exists now only as a monument of the transitory nature of all earthly grandeur. The Ram Bagh (Plate XV) has not only to a great extent escaped the ruin which has befallen the other gardens, but has been considerably extended on the East side. It is under charge of the local agents, to whose careful supervision its present state of luxuriance may be attributed. The garden contains many rare and valuable plants, an abundance of fruit of great variety, and vegetables of surpassing excellence. Several buildings on the river side have been fitted up for accommodation of visitors, to whom they are hired by order of the local agents, on application, at a moderate daily rent. The gardens are open to the public, and are much frequented by early morning visitors; the air at this time is peculiarly refreshing, and a stroll through the shady walks and scented avenues of this delightful retreat is especially grateful at those seasons of the year when heat and dust in tolerable amount and quantity are the inconveniences which, during the greater part of the day, the residents of Agra are subjected to...'